Infosys plans to cut fresher hiring as automation grows

First Indian IT services provider to explicitly forecast a decline in entry-level jobs

- Jas Bardia

Infosys had hired 15,000 out-of-college candidates in the last fiscal.

Infosys Ltd, India’s second-largest software services provider, will hire fewer graduates directly out of college in the coming years, amplifying concerns for the country’s engineering students as automation continues to shrink entry-level job opportunities.

“INFY (Infosys) expects to hire fewer freshers in the future, enabled by higher productivity,” said BMO Capital Markets analysts Keith Bachman, Bradley Clark, Adam J. Holets, and Jonathan Stein, on 16 December, citing interaction with the firm’s management.

“INFY also envisions potential for revenue per headcount to increase,” the research firm said. “Management expects headcount to grow modestly over the next few years due to increasing employee productivity.

The Bengaluru-based company becomes the first information technology (IT) services provider to explicitly forecast a decline in entry-level jobs as the sector grapples with a slowdown due to AI disruption, a decrease in client spending led by macroeconomic uncertainty, and visa curbs in the US.